A Somerset Berkley Regional High School honors student and senior editor of the school newspaper was removed as a panelist at Monday night’s candidate forum at the last minute, and his uncle, Selectman Donald Setters, is claiming dirty politics.

A Somerset Berkley Regional High School honors student and senior editor of the school newspaper was removed as a panelist at Monday night’s candidate forum at the last minute, and his uncle, Selectman Donald Setters, is claiming dirty politics.

The event was sponsored by the Democratic Town Committee and moderated by Town Moderator Lucia Casey.

“Clearly, they are using a child for political purposes, and it’s just wrong. Why would you do that to a child? It’s a slap in the face of democracy and free speech,” said Donald Setters, who is not up for re-election and was not involved in the candidates’ forum this year.

Setters said he is sure his nephew was punished because of his political position on the Board of Selectmen.

It was Casey, according to Setters, who was the one who told his nephew, Matthew Setters, he would not be allowed on the panel because of a conflict of interest.

“He arrived in a shirt and tie and prepared to ask questions,” Setters said.

In a telephone message, Casey said she won’t comment because she was only filling in for Rep. Patricia Haddad, who was originally slated to moderate the event.

Casey said to contact Barry Sullivan, the chairman of the Town Democratic Committee, who was in control of Monday night’s forum.

Sullivan did not return several telephone calls.

But on Monday night, less than two hours before the start of the candidates’ forum, he confirmed to The Herald News the four-member panel would include two students from the high school, including the school newspaper’s senior editor.

It is a long tradition, Setters said, to have the senior editor of the school newspaper attend.

Matthew Setters said he was told on Monday during the school day by his friend Ian McCurry, who is the co-editor of the school newspaper The Breeze, that he was invited by the Democratic Town Committee to sit on the panel that evening. McCurry was already scheduled to participate.

Over the weekend, Matthew Setters said he helped McCurry develop the questions he would present to the selectmen and school committee candidates.

“We understood they had to be about issues, and we carefully constructed the questions, and they were very focused. There was absolutely no slant to any question at all,” Matthew Setters said.

The high school senior — who is heading to Quinnipiac University in Connecticut after graduation to study marketing and communications — said he went to track practice after school then hurried home to finish his homework before heading out to the forum.

He arrived at the high school auditorium and was surprised when Casey and Sullivan approached him on the stage.

“They walked up to me and said I couldn’t be on the panel. I believe she (Casey) said someone complained and that it wouldn’t look good because my uncle was a selectman,” Matthew Setters said.

He said the situation has given him new insight into how politics works in Somerset.

“I understand 200 percent how it operates in town,” he said.

After the forum was over, Selectman Setters said he was approached by Somerset Berkley Regional School Chairman Richard Peirce, who he said didn’t agree with the decision to remove his nephew from the panel.

On Tuesday, Peirce said he was aware the regional high school student was removed before the forum, but doesn’t know the reason the representatives of the Democratic Town Committee made the decision.

“But I do know that Matthew Setters is an outstanding member of the student body and has been involved in many things in the course of his high school career. I understand why both he and Ian were chosen to represent the high school,” Peirce said.